History Main / SelfImmolation

* The practice of Sutee in India though it was often more forced immolation

* The insane Watcher does this in the {{Buffy The Vampire Slayer}} spinoff comic {{Fray}}.

* In MaryShelleysFrankenstein, [[spoiler:Elizabeth]] does this after seeing how [[spoiler: Victor had brought her back from the dead as a hideous mangled monster sewn together with pieces of her best friend's corpse.]]
* Jerome Eugene Morrow's suicide in {{Gattaca}}.

When a character sets himself on fire to kill himself in a blaze of glory. May be done as an act of political protest.

* Parodied (of course) in ''{{Airplane}}!'', where Ted's boring stories cause people to want to kill themselves. A turbaned man douses himself with some flammable liquid, and lights a match, but just then Ted finishes his story and leaves. The man puts out the match, sighs... and ''Whooomph!''.

[[AC:{{Film}}]]

[[AC:{{Literature}}]]

[[AC:LiveActionTV]]

[[AC:RealLife]]
* [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Th%C3%ADch_Qu%E1%BA%A3ng_%C4%90%E1%BB%A9c Thich Quang Duc,]] a Vietnamese Buddhist monk, set himself alight to protest against the government of the time. A very famous photo was taken of the incident, winning the photographer and the journalist who wrote the accompanying article Pulitzer prizes. The photo has featured in a number of places, including the cover of a RageAgainstTheMachine album. Several other protesters followed his example (see TheOtherWiki's [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_political_self-immolations list of political self-immolations]]).
** Also notable because the man ''remained perfectly calm and in a state of deep concentration'' while he effectively killed himself.
* Jan Palach, a Czech student, who committed suicide by self-immolation 1968 as a protest to Soviet occupation of Czechoslovakia.
* Recent government protests in Tunisia -- which, in turn, inspired similar protests in Egypt and other Arab states -- all began with [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohamed_Bouazizi one man]] lighting himself on fire.

[[AC:{{Theatre}}]]

[[AC:VideoGames]]

[[AC:WesternAnimation]]

-->'''Delenn''', ''BabylonFive''

-->Delenn: ''Those who did not deserve to rule, who would not sacrifice themselves...as they asked others to do on their behalf, would escape the fire. The sacrifice of the one who remained...who believed so much in his caste that he would lay down his life for them...that would determine which caste would be dominant among us.''
-->BabylonFive

* Recent government protests in Tunisia--which, in turn, inspired [[FlamingFruitVendorsAndAngryArabs similar protests in Egypt and other Arab states]]--all began with [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohamed_Bouazizi one man]] lighting himself on fire.

* [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Burningmonk.jpg A Vietnamese Buddhist monk]] set himself alight to protest against the government of the time. A very famous photo was taken of the incident, winning the photographer and the journalist who wrote the accompanying article Pulitzer prizes. The photo has featured in a number of places, including the cover of a RageAgainstTheMachine album. Several other protesters followed his example (see TheOtherWiki's [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_political_self-immolations list of political self-immolations]]).

* Denethor in ''LordOfTheRings''. "Bring wood and oil." In the original book he burns in the tomb where he's built his pyre, but in PeterJackson's film version he runs out of the tomb and across the courtyard while still burning so that he can throw himself off the front of the rock prow overlooking the battlefield. Director's commentary made note of the distance but admitted [[RuleOfCool he really wanted the shot of Denethor falling from the pinacle.]]

* The main character in the film ''{{Dagon}}'' attempts to kill himself by this method after learning that his family hailed from to the [[FishPeople town of Imbaca]]. It doesn't take, however, as he is pushed into a nearby pool to douse the flames.

* The main character in the film ''{{Dagon}}'' attempts to kill himself by this method after learning that his family hailed from to the [[FishPeople town of Innsmouth]]. It doesn't take, however, as he is pushed into a nearby pool to douse the flames.

* Recent government protests in Tunisia--which, in turn, inspired similar protests in Egypt and other Arab states--all began with [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohamed_Bouazizi one man]] lighting himself on fire.